Winning through your strengths

With the Commonwealth Games in full swing, I thought it would be great to share with you ways in which we can all be part of a winning team by using our strengths. Referring to the strengths and Strengths Families from Capp’s online strengths identification tool, Realise2, what do you bring to situations that make a winning combination?

Competitive: Let us start with the most obvious. You love winning and this will usually be the only acceptable option for you as it probably hurts to lose! You are used to leading and being part of a winning team. Competitive was one of the top weaknesses in the UK in our Realise2 study so consider how can you support others and role model your talent to encourage others’ competitiveness.

Motivation: What are your motivation strengths and how will these deliver your competitive goals? If you have Work Ethic or Persistence, you can put the time, energy and effort into keeping going to make sure you achieve success. If you have Drive you will push yourself to win as you love achieving the demanding goals you have set yourself. Those with a sense of Adventure will compete successfully by pushing the boundaries and achieving the impossible.

Thinking: If you are naturally gifted in your brainpower, what thinking strengths can help you win? You may want to come up with the newest or most creative idea in your organisation. Perhaps your Judgement helps you make winning decisions or your organisational strengths of Planful or Order make sure you get to the top of your game with the right resources and in a timely manner.

Relationships: If people are your focus you might not have thought too much about winning but your skill at getting the best from people will help deliver winning targets and goals through others. If you are emotionally connected with others use this talent to pick up on clues of others strengths and weaknesses to channel their energy in the right direction. If you are the natural Connector, use your network to put the winning team or resources together.

Being: Some of the Being strengths are all about ‘Making a Difference’ for example, Mission, Legacy, Service and Moral Compass. By aligning your passions and values together with your goals, it won’t be long before your commitment to the task sees you outperforming others and driving teams forward positively.

Communication: The key to getting others on board to deliver performance. With Narrator as a strength, your talent for storytelling and anecdotes is a powerful and convincing message to others as to why they should outperform. Perhaps you offer the Counterpoint, always looking for alternatives so you can achieve success another way if you come across challenges. The ability to use your Explainer and Scribe to avoid jargon and make sure the whole team understands their individual and team goals will be a powerful combination.

So, the next time you are working towards a winning goal, compete in a way that plays to your strengths and you are far more likely to maintain your engagement and get to the result you want.

Realise2 is the leading online strengths identification and development tool, used by 80,000+ to unlock the potential of individuals and teams.

To find out more about how using strengths can help your organisation find and retain the right talent, call Capp on +44(0)2476 323 363.